The Camaro Nationals - Convening In Carlisle

The Camaro Nationals Bring In Quality And Quantity -What More Could A Camaro Enthusiast Ask For?

There was sun, heat, humidity, and a freak storm that knocked down trees and sent vendor tents flying like an Arizona auto auction. Apparently it was the usual summer weekend in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Since the Camaro Nationals is held in the same place and time as the GM Nationals, there were plenty of great General Motors cars to see besides just Camaros. We met tons of friendly people from all over the world including Canada and even a few from England. This show is an extremely big draw and after experiencing it, we understand why.

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There was eighth-mile drag racing out at Quarter Aces Drag-O-Way, 4x4 rock crawling, music, Ms. Carlisle GM Nationals contest, and more. In fact, there was so much to do, we'd need a week to take it all in.

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The burnout competition was epic. People and cars all over the event were covered in black dust. The Carlisle Fairgrounds looked like Pompeii after Mount Vesuvius in Italy erupted back in 79ad. Only the people who took cover in the car-filled buildings were spared from the fallout.

It was great to see the Papa John's Pizza Camaro on display. After reading so much on the Internet about how John Schnater was reunited with it, we felt connected for a split second. Well, that and the fact that all of us Camaro owners got a free, one-topping pizza pie.

All generations of Camaros were present. The first-, second-, and fifth-gens made up the largest segment of the Camaros at the event. There were all kinds of build styles on hand. We spotted street machines, Pro Street, factory-restored, day two, and it seems as though the Pro Touring build style is becoming popular in these parts.

Only a few third-gens were spotted, but the place was crawling with second-gens from NastyZ28.com. First-gens were everywhere, but the large presence of fifth-gens proved GM underestimated the Camaro enthusiasts who had been waiting 8 years to once again own a brand new generation American icon.

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There was plenty of action going on inside the buildings, too. One building housed a judged Camaro show where they were loaded on a lift to be judged for originality. There were some really nice restorations in stiff competition. One of our favorite display buildings was Building G at Gate 1. It was previously some sort of car or tractor dealership with a showroom straight out of the '40s. For the second year in a row, Brian Henderson of Super Car Workshop has worked with friends to convert the empty building into a specialty car display building that resembles a late '60s or '70s dealership. The regulars know it as The Solid Lifter Showroom. But whatever you want to call it, that place was stuffed full of all kinds of Chevy muscle in the form of immaculate restorations of Dana, Gibb, Yenko Super Cars, and more. To further drive home the theme of the vintage dealership, Henderson enlisted the artistic talents of Caleb Arone to paint the front windows of the showroom to resemble how they may have appeared in the early '70s.

Our Camaro Performers hat is off to pay respect to Rick Markko and all the people who made this event a success. The staff was more helpful and courteous than any other show organization we've ever come into contact. From our perspective, this event ran like a well-oiled street machine.

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The only complaint we had was that the majority of the attendees only stayed until the end of the day on Saturday. Who does that? On the west coast, Sunday is just as busy as Saturday. We hope to see you out there next year and maybe Sunday will be a bigger day.

MORE PHOTOS

Tom Henry Racing (THR) was at the Camaro Nationals to show off their fifth-gen Camaros. This black '11 wore their Carbon package and polished Boze wheels.

This line of fifth-gens is made up of all Berger Chevrolet special edition models. Four are owned by Dennis Stefanakis, Mike Zarpas, and Dino and Jerry Andreatos - all related.

ProCharger had a couple of blown fifth-gens on display. We recognized the red Pedders car from the Optima Batteries Invitational event following SEMA last year.

Clint Battista's red split-bumper '72 was sporting a B&M blown 350 backed by a 4L80E and flying a NastyZ28.com sticker out front. The orange fourth-gen sports an SLP-style scooped hood.

The Wild Thing 383-powered third-gen Camaro wowed the crowd with a tire-shredding mushroom cloud in the burnout box. As you can see through the haze, there was another contestant having fun in the box.

Here's what a tire looks like after you've coated the entire city of Carlisle with its carcass. Women, children, and squirrels were seen fleeing the area. Fun for the crowd, bad for the quarter-panel.

The swap meet had plenty of Camaro treasures in the form of original and reproduction parts as well as automobilia artifacts for the masses.

This was one of many fifth-gens on display from the GM Heritage Collection. This one was a Military tribute car with amazing airbrush work of all service branches.

Joe Swezey's '69 SS427 Dick Harrell Camaro originally sold by Ed Black Chevrolet in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was wearing a Stinger hood and day two accessories like Cragars wearing piecrust slicks.

Jeff Murphy's #49 Gibb ZL-1 was dragged out to the show mid-restoration by Super Car Workshop so show goers could see all the details that are hidden from view once the sheetmetal is in place. This day two build is second to none. All of a sudden we love Spyder Motor Wheels.

Some restored cars just look tougher with day two parts. Mike Angelo drives that point home with his black SS396 wearing piecrust slicks and "Back Our Boys In Vietnam" plates.

Mike Angelo's SS396 engine was meticulously restored to stock but was wearing a few day two parts including a fly eye air cleaner and period-correct headers.

Sometimes you buy a car even though it's not the color you prefer. Jerry Noonan bought a brand-new Berger Camaro and had it repainted his favorite color ... LeMans Blue.

Of all the Camaro clubs that attended, NastyZ28.com had the largest turnout. They had some great cars and drew a crowd all weekend.

Keith Morsell's '68 SS/RS 350 Camaro was finely restored by Lucas Restorations and was up for judging in the ACA display building.

The famous Dana Chevrolet converted this '68 SS/RS Camaro owned by Tony Lucas to a 427 from a 350. It was found a few years ago in a Hawaii carport with 1,600 miles on the odometer. Super Car Workshop performed the restoration.

Brian Henderson and friends turned the vacant old dealership outside the front gate into an awesome display of cars from Yenko, Gibb, Dana, and more. It was branded The Solid Lifter Showroom. The front windows were painted to reflect yesteryear.

Here's a Tom Henry Racing (THR) silver '10 pumping 644 hp at the crank with an Edelbrock supercharger. Check them out at www.tomhenryracing.com.

Grabiak Chevrolet from New Alexandria, Pennsylvania, came out with an Edelbrock supercharged and modified '10 Camaro straight from their showroom.

A few people were inspecting this restored Dusk Blue four-speed, numbers-matching '69. The price tag was $31K. We didn't look closely, but it seemed like a decent price if the car is real.

Check out exclusive footage, coverage, and pictures of the annual Corvettes At Carlisle Show! Corvettes from all walks, including custom race edition Corvettes, the No. 50 C5-R Corvette, and many more, were featured at this event! Check out the details and pictures at Vette Magazine. » Read More